India will take on New Zealand in the first semifinal of the ICC World Cup under cloudy skies at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester on Tuesday (July 9). The forecast for match day gets gloomier once the toss is out of the way with 51 per cent chance of rain around 11am local.

India will take on New Zealand in the first semifinal of the ICC World Cup under cloudy skies at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester on Tuesday (July 9). The forecast for match day gets gloomier once the toss is out of the way with 51 per cent chance of rain around 11am local.

Unlike the league stage matches, there is a provision of reserve days for knockout games. If rain interrupts the match on Tuesday and the semifinal cannot be completed due to inclement weather, the match will resume on Wednesday (July 10). The match will not restart on the next day; it will continue from the same position it was stopped.

However, the forecast for the reserve day is not much bright either. The British Met department is predicting around 60 per cent chances of rain between 9 and 10am on the reserve day.

If it's a washout on both days, then India qualifies for the final on the basis of having garnered more points (15) than New Zealand (11) in the league stage. It should be remembered that the league stage encounter between India and New Zealand was washed out in Trent Bridge, Nottingham — the only game in which India lost points in this World Cup.

The expected maximum temperature for the day will be around 19-20 degrees in Manchester with 90 per cent cloud cover almost throughout the day. It will be good news for the New Zealand pace bowlers, who will be hope that the conditions will provide some assistance to them against the powerful Indian batting line-up.